Thread: Final Hutaree defendants plead guilty to weapons charges

Final Hutaree defendants plead guilty to weapons charges

By James B. Kelleher | Reuters – 7 mins ago...

DETROIT (Reuters) - Two days after a federal judge dismissed a massive conspiracy case charging seven members of a Midwest militia group with plotting to wage war against the U.S. government, the group's leader and one of his sons pleaded guilty Thursday to one weapons charge each. David Brian Stone Sr., the leader of the group called the Hutaree, and his son Joshua Stone each pleaded guilty before Judge Victoria Roberts in federal court in Detroit to possession of a machine gun.

The seven were arrested two years ago this week following a long undercover operation by the FBI and charged with plotting a violent revolt against the U.S. government using weapons of mass destruction.

On Tuesday, Roberts took the unusual step of dismissing all major charges against the seven before the defense case was heard.

Prosecutors alleged that as part of their plan, the Hutaree plotted to kill law enforcement officers as a way to incite a wider rebellion against the U.S. government.

Much of the evidence against the six men and one woman consisted of audio and video recordings made by an undercover agent and a paid informant who infiltrated the group.

In the recordings, David Stone Sr. repeatedly made statements describing law enforcement as the enemy, discussed the killing of police officers and argued for the need to go to war against the government.

Defense attorneys had argued that what the seven had engaged in was protected by their free speech rights. Roberts agreed and after weeks of trial, she abruptly intervened, dismissing all the major charges, saying federal prosecutors had failed to prove their case.

It is unusual for a judge to take the case out of the hands of the jury and dismiss the charges and Judge Roberts' ruling is a setback for the federal government, which has been warning of the growing threat of violence from such groups.

On Thursday, after David and Joshua Stone entered their guilty pleas, the jury was brought back into courtroom and advised of the dramatic developments that had occurred during the week they were away.

"The court looks very different from when you were last here last Thursday," Judge Roberts said before going on to explain why she had acquitted the seven defendants.

"There's nothing for you to do and you are discharged from jury service."

But before the jurors left the room, Judge Roberts complimented the attorneys involved in the case.

"It has been an honor for the court to preside over this case," she said. "The attorneys represented their clients with the passion and zeal they were supposed to exercise."

The Hutaree trial was the latest example of the U.S. government prosecuting what it views as a growing threat of violence from home-grown militias.

Until the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington carried out by al Qaeda, the largest such attack on American soil was the 1995 bombing of a government building in Oklahoma City by anti-government zealot Timothy McVeigh that killed 168 people.

The FBI warned in early February that anti-government extremists posed a growing threat to local law enforcement officers.

As of late 2011, there were about 250 active militia groups in the United States, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The Hutaree is classified as a militia, the league said.

In all, nine members of the Hutaree were arrested two years in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana in the raids in late March 2010.

Tina Mae Stone, David Stone Jr., Michael David Meeks, Thomas William Piatek and Kristopher Sickles all had faced trial on conspiracy charges. When Judge Roberts ruled earlier this week, she dismissed all the charges against them.

An eighth member of the group, Joshua John Clough, pleaded guilty to a weapons charge in December, and the ninth member, Jacob Ward, was found not competent to face trial.

Final Hutaree defendants plead guilty to weapons charges - Yahoo! News

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Members of the Hutaree Militia Plead Guilty to Weapons Charges

U.S. Attorney’s Office
March 29, 2012 Eastern District of Michigan
(313) 226-9100

David Stone, Sr., 47, and his son Joshua Stone, 23, members of the Hutaree Militia, pleaded guilty this morning in federal court to weapons charges, United States Attorney Barbara McQuade announced. Ms. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation.

During a hearing this morning before United States District Judge Victoria Roberts, both David Stone, Sr. and Joshua Stone admitted that they possessed machine guns, specifically a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle and a Double Star Corp. .223 caliber rifle, respectively, knowing that the firearms would shoot, and were designed to shoot, automatically more than one shot ,without manual reloading, by a single function of then trigger. Possession of such a firearm is in violation of federal gun laws.

Based on their guilty pleas, each defendant faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

United States Attorney McQuade said, “We are gratified that these felony convictions mean that these defendants will never be permitted to possess firearms again. The court’s order dismissing the more serious charges in this case was disappointing, but it does not shake our commitment to dismantling groups who would harm our citizens and law enforcement officers, and these efforts will continue. While we disagree with the court’s decision, we respect its role, and we recognize that reasonable minds can disagree on where legal lines are drawn. We thank the members of the jury for their time and service to this case.”

Ms. McQuade commended the efforts of Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher Graveline and Sheldon Light, along with the investigative cooperation of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and other federal agencies who worked diligently throughout this investigation and lengthy trial.

FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Federal Government, U.S. Department of Justice

FBI — Members of the Hutaree Militia Plead Guilty to Weapons Charges

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